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| Broadcast area | |
| Frequency | 104.1MHz (HD Radio) |
| Branding | Q104 |
| Programming | |
| Format | Hot adult contemporary |
| Subchannels | HD2:Channel Q |
| Affiliations | Westwood One |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | April 1948 (76 years ago) (1948-04) |
Former call signs |
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Call sign meaning | "Quality"[1] |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 72889 |
| Class | B |
| ERP | 12,000 watts |
| HAAT | 293 meters (961 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 41°20′28.00″N81°44′24.00″W / 41.3411111°N 81.7400000°W /41.3411111; -81.7400000 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Webcast | Listen live (via Audacy) |
| Website | www |
WQAL (104.1FM) is a commercialradio station licensed toCleveland, Ohio, United States, featuring ahot adult contemporary format known as "Q104". Owned byAudacy, Inc., the station servesGreater Cleveland and surroundingNortheast Ohio. WQAL's studios are located at theHalle Building inDowntown Cleveland, and the transmitter is inNorth Royalton. In addition to a standardanalog transmission, WQAL broadcasts over twoHD Radio channels, and is available online viaAudacy.
WQAL originated as WJW-FM in 1948, the FM extension ofWJW (850AM). Because of persistent schedule conflicts withABC Radio programming on WJW, WJW-FM became the primary flagship station for theCleveland Indians Radio Network during their 1948 championship season, and helped initiate early FM adoption in the Cleveland market. From 1950 until 1965, WJW-FM simulcast WJW outright, then aired tapedclassical music after mandates that FM stations needed unique programming. The station became WCJW in 1968 withNashville sound-focusedcountry music, but was sold off byStorer Broadcasting at the end of 1970 due to major financial losses incurred from their ownership ofNortheast Airlines. Adopting the WQAL call sign in 1971, it featured a popularbeautiful music format through the 1970s and 1980s, and since 1991 has carried its present adult contemporary format and "Q104" branding.
WQAL took to the air in April 1948 as WJW-FM, an FM adjunct toWJW (850AM), owned by William M. O'Neil, Jr.[3][4] The sign-on was largely coordinated with the beginning ofthe 1948 season for theCleveland Indians, as WJW agreed to become the flagship of a statewideradio network.[5] Due to WJW's contractual obligations withABC Radio, the majority of games during the season aired solely on the FM station,[6] a problem exacerbated by the team moving the start time for games to earlier in the afternoon in the middle of ABC programming.[7] Less than 10,000 FM receivers were estimated to be in use in the region when the season began,[8] with an increase in the purchase of FM tuners attributed directly to WJW-FM carrying the games.[9] At the end of 1948, WJW-FM was named flagship of the Standard Network, a 14-station statewide service for FM stations.[10] While the schedule conflicts were resolved for WJW the following year,[11]WERE (1300AM) took over as Indians radio flagship in 1950.[12]
From 1950 onward, WJW-FM operated as a pure simulcast of the AM station. Both WJW and WJW-FM were sold toStorer Broadcasting on October 8, 1954,[13] and moved to a combined facility with co-ownedWXEL (renamed WJW-TV[14]) atPlayhouse Square in 1956.[15] By March 1961, WJW and WJW-FM were operating from studios at the AM station's transmitter site inNorth Royalton, which also housed the FM's transmitter.[3] The AM/FM simulcast was partially broken up on November 8, 1965, with tapedclassical music and concert programming fromInternational Good Music airing daily over WJW-FM after 12 p.m.;[16] the separation was made after theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) enacted theFM Non-Duplication Rule, mandating that FM stations could no longer fully duplicate the programming of their AM counterparts.[17]
WJW-FM was fully relaunched as WCJW on January 15, 1968, featuring acountry music format dubbed "The Countrypolitan sound of Cleveland".[18] WCJW represented the first full-time country station in the Cleveland market; prior to this, the format was only heard overWSLR inAkron, Ohio, and in the late hours on ethnic stationWZAK.[19] Charles Renwick, general manager for WJW and WCJW, was given full leeway by Storer to choose the new format, and selected country after investigating the "Nashville sound" through several trips toNashville.[20] WJW personalities were heard over WCJW viavoice-tracking, but by 1970, WCJW hired Al Moore as a dedicated host in afternoons and upgraded to stereo.[21] WCJW's tower was also moved to the WJW-TV tower inParma and began 24-hour broadcasting.[20] While still largely automated, music was selected and scheduled locally by production manager Merrill Cosgrove.[22]
In late 1970, Storer sold off WCJW andWPNA inPhiladelphia to SJR Communications—the broadcast division of San Juan Racing Association—for a combined $1.4 million.[23] The sale came as Storer experienced substantial financial losses operatingNortheast Airlines, and proceeded to divest themselves of all but one of their FM stations.[24] A format change was largely expected and Cosgrove told theCleveland Press in a profile on her that she would not be retained.[22] The deal closed on May 12, 1971, and WCJW was relaunched as WQAL, featuring an automatedbeautiful music format.[3][25] SJR selected the calls to stand for "quality" and to counter negative perceptions Clevelanders had toward the city.[1]Press columnist Bill Barrett printed letters from dismayed WCJW listeners in his column, suggesting FM listeners are "... showing the same traits now as the AM audience involvement in programing [sic] and prompt a strong reaction when a favorite sound is disturbed."[26] WQAL's format was at first largely programmed by SJR'sWJMD inWashington, D.C., and new studios were set up onEuclid Avenue; it also proved to be an immediate success in ClevelandArbitron ratings, jumping from 20th place overall to 11th place.[27]
WQAL had no air talent from their launch until March 19, 1973, when "Tall Ted" Hallaman debuted in morning drive; Hallaman's arrival was the latest in a series of popular personalities on the AM dial that moved to FM.[28] Al James, formerly withWWWE andWHK, joined WQAL in early 1975 for afternoons and later said of his switch to FM, "looking back, I'm really happy I made the move—but I admit I gave it a lot of thought before doing it".[29] James "Jay Lynn" Threatt joined the station three months after it launched to operate the automation system; by 1974, Lynn was the overnight host,[30] a role he kept until retiring in 2002.[31] The additions of personalities helped further WQAL's ratings growth: in multiple Arbitron surveys through the 1970s, it was top-ranked among adults 18 and older, and the April-May 1978 Arbitron showed WQAL listeners tuned into the station for 12 hours and 24 minutes every week.[1][30] Ed Fisher, long the morning-drive host at WJW, joined WQAL in 1979 in the same capacity;[32] Fisher replaced Hallaman, who left WQAL to becomeWDOK's morning host.[33]
Despite high ratings, WQAL's 1978 license renewal was in doubt. The FCC sought to enforce a 6 percent weekly minimum of non-entertainment programming among FM stations,[1] and WQAL proposed 2.9 percent of weekly non-entertainment fare, including two daily shows at 8:55 a.m. and 6:25 p.m., and a weekend program at 4:30 a.m.[34] Five other FM stations also allotted the bare minimum for such programming,[35] but the FCC voted unanimously in April 1978 to designate WQAL's license for hearing, the first station to have its license challenged on program content.[3][36] WQAL general manager Goff Lebhar said that in order to meet the FCC's requirement, "[w]e would have to make changes in programming ... we didn't have [the rule] in 1973, and didn't change it in 1976".[35] TheNational Association of Broadcasters (NAB) petitioned in support of WQAL, saying the hearing could be "... construed to betoken a new era of programming control and censorship".[37] After amending their application to account for 6.79 percent nonentertainment programming, WQAL's license was granted a one-year renewal by December 1978,[38] and a full three-year renewal by July 1980.[3]
SJR divested all but one of their radio stations, including WQAL, toGulf United Broadcasting in May 1980 as part of a larger $62 million deal.[39] Gulf sold off WQAL to WIN Communications, a locally-run company, on October 8, 1984, for $4.8 million.[40] WIN was headed by formerWMMS general manager Walt Tiburski[41] and included area developer Tony Ocepek[42] andCleveland Browns playerThom Darden as among the core investors.[43] Despite Tiburski's background inrock overseeing WMMS, he promised to maintain WQAL's beautiful music format and beat WDOK in the ratings, saying, "... we feel the area in which we can experience the greatest success is the easy-listening format. I have no torch for rock 'n' roll."[44] Shortly after the purchase was complete at the start of 1985, veteran personality Larry Morrow—a former host atWIXY, WWWE and WERE host once dubbed "Mr. Cleveland" by mayorGeorge Voinovich[45]—was hired for morning drive; Tiburski teased the possibility of WIN purchasing additional radio stations.[46]
WQAL was the last station in Cleveland to feature beautiful music after WDOK switched tosoft AC in 1987.[47] Even by 1984, industry analysts regarded Cleveland as unusually receptive to beautiful music as other large markets only had one station remaining in the format.[48] WIN sold itself, along with WQAL and four other stations, to M.L. Media PartnersLP, a subsidiary ofMerrill Lynch,[49][50] in May 1988 for $48 million; Tiburski and Ocepek agreed to continue operating the stations along with any future M.L. Media purchases.[51] WQAL updated their playlist in early 1989 with a larger amount of vocals, but ratings declined by 2.8 percent between the winter and summer 1989 books.[52]
Facing both declining ratings and an increasing amount of advertisers unwilling to associate with the format, WQAL abruptly switched to soft AC on March 31, 1990. Morrow addressed the change on-air by saying, "you told us you wanted the originals rather than the instrumentals".[53] Renamed "Soft Hits 104.1", WQAL registered aservice mark for the brand and filed acease and desist against WDOK from using "soft hits" in their station promos and advertising.[54] WDOK, which branded as "soft favorites", countersued WQAL inOhio Common Pleas court,[55] causing WQAL to quietly rebrand as "Great Hits 104.1" four weeks later; this led WDOK to host an internal "guess the WQAL slogan contest" among advertising agencies where the winner received $1,002 in cash.[56]Plain Dealer critic David Sowd called the "pillow fight" litigation between the two stations "... a reflection of how wimpy and bland Cleveland radio has become".[55] WQAL's soft AC switch largely flopped as both it and WDOK saw audience declines in the spring 1990 Arbitron ratings, but contemporary-focusedWLTF became top-ranked in the market.[57] By July 1990, Walt Tiburski and Tony Ocepek ended their two-year contracts operating the WIN station group on M.L. Media Partners' behalf, and intended to purchase additional stations.[58]
When we were easy listening, much of our presentation was more traditional - a radio version ofThe Wall Street Journal, if you will. Now we've evolved to more of aUSA Today: we're more interesting and exciting and easily digestible.
Industry veteran Dave Ervin was hired as program director in December 1990; within five weeks, all softer-sounding songs were removed from the playlist and the station was relaunched as "Q104", with WLTF now as their main competition.[60] Ervin considered his arrival to be "the final stage" of WQAL's "evolution" from the beautiful music era[59] tohot AC.[61] Larry Morrow and Jay Lynn were retained in their respective morning and overnight timeslots and were joined with Sally Spitz as Morrow's co-host, Johnny Williams for middays, Dan Deely for afternoons and Jon Russell for evenings.[62] Morrow was called "a gold mine" by Ervin for his tenure in the market and ties to the community,[61] and marketed the station around him; while still successful in mornings, Morrow expressed frustration over having stiff competition fromJohn Lanigan atWMJI andHoward Stern atWNCX, both of whom prevented him from reaching number one like at past stations.[63]
Chancellor Media made three concurrent transactions on August 12, 1998, purchasing WQAL from M.L. Media Partners,WRMR (850AM) and WDOK from Independent Group Ltd., andWZJM,WZAK andWJMO (1490AM) from Zapis Communications, all for $275 million: the largest such deal in Cleveland radio history.[64][65][66] The joint sale came after ongoing consolidation in the market made it impossible for the other groups to remain competitive.[64] WQAL was described byPlain Dealer critic Roger Brown in April 1996 as "a station in limbo" suggesting M.L. Media would be forced to keep or sell the station.[67] After Independent Group and Zapis failed to close a joint $45 million purchase for WQAL, all three groups united to sell outright.[65] The newly formed cluster was soon joined byWKNR (1220AM)[68] after Chancellor's merger with Capstar Broadcasting 15 days later[69] forming AMFM, Inc., with 465 stations in their portfolio. Shortly after Chancellor took over WQAL, Morrow's contract was not renewed, ending for him a 33-year career in local radio;[45] his dismissal came alongside similar budget cuts made at WDOK and WRMR.[70]
On October 3, 1999, only 82 days after AMFM, Inc.'s formation, it agreed to be purchased byClear Channel Communications for $17.4 billion.[71] To meet regulatory approval, WQAL, WZJM and WDOK were sold off to WNCX ownerInfinity Broadcasting as part of a larger $1.4 billion, 18-station deal announced on May 6, 2000.[72][73]
WQAL's studios were moved to WDOK's facilities at "One Radio Lane", off East St. Clair Avenue inDowntown Cleveland, in January 2002.[74] A managerial realignment had Chris Maduri—with WDOK since 1985—become general manager for it and WQAL, while Walt Tiburski held the same role at WNCX and WXTM (the former WZJM); Maduri was also appointed as market manager for all four stations. Maduri treated his role as "still [making] the stations sound like localMa-and-Pa operations, with local weather, local traffic and local talent."[75] Dave Popovich, a veteran executive at WMJI, WLTF/WMVX and WDOK, was named program director for WQAL and WDOK in February 2006; by then, Infinity Broadcasting was renamed toCBS Radio.[76] WQAL and WDOK moved to theHalle Building on Euclid Avenue, also downtown, on November 13, 2012.[74]
CBS Radio merged with Entercom (renamedAudacy, Inc. in 2021[77]) on February 2, 2017.[78] The merger was approved on November 9, 2017, and was consummated on the 17th.[79][80] Popovich was promoted to vice president of programming for the four-station cluster prior to retiring in March 2023;[81] Chase Daniels was transferred from Audacy'sMadison, Wisconsin, cluster to succeed him.[82]
WQAL personalities include Bill Ryan and Alyssa Rose in mornings,[83][84] along with Jenny Lyte in middays and Kelly McMann in afternoons.[85] WQAL's HD2digital subchannel carries theChannel Q network.[86][87]